Clock running on NATO's stretched Afghan operation

By Luke Baker

LONDON (Reuters) - When three top U.S. officials flew to Europe recently to drum up more backing from NATO allies for the troubled Afghan campaign, the only solid offer was of 200 extra German troops in the quieter north of the country.

At a time of growing concern about NATO's ability to keep the resurgent Taliban at bay, Europe's reluctance to help must have worried the trio -- Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Robert Gates and undersecretary of state Nicholas Burns.

True, at separate NATO talks in Vilnius last week, France said it was studying a possible deployment to help Canadian troops in the more violent south, and participants said Romania, Poland and Norway signalled they could do more.

Germany, nagged by Gates, softened a longstanding insistence that it cannot exceed a self-imposed limit of 3,500 troops in Afghanistan, and no longer excludes reinforcements this year.

It was hardly the crush of support the United States wants or needs, seven years after it ousted the Taliban regime that was sheltering al Qaeda.

And given major allies' reluctance or inability to commit resources, it could be months before help does arrive, leaving Afghanistan in the lurch amid grave concern about its future.

Burns, a seasoned diplomat and former ambassador to NATO, was explicit about the difficulties when he addressed a British policy think-tank earlier this week, after a day of intensive talks on the issue at Britain's Foreign Office.

"The problem for NATO in Afghanistan is that we lack a sufficient number of troops on the ground, we lack equipment -- especially helicopters -- and that's hurting military efforts to defeat the enemy," he said.